The Lucius L. Hubbard Papers contain correspondence received by Hubbard in the years from 1918 through 1923. Despite his prominent career in the field of geology, these letters focus on his other scholarly pursuits, particularly his collection and study of Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. Through his collection of various editions of these novels, as well as others, Hubbard developed bibliographic records and analyses through the publishing of monographs regarding these texts: A Dutch Source for Robinson Crusoe (1921) and Contributions Toward a Bibliography of Gulliver's Travels (1922), respectively.
The letters contained within these papers contain correspondence between colleagues, publishers, and other interested parties regarding Hubbard's literary pursuits and the path towards publication. Several letters discuss attempts at publicity in various mailings to spur interest in the scholastic merit offered through Hubbard's bibliography. While many others are from collaborators discussing the ongoing work towards Hubbard's developing collection and his manuscripts.
Lucius Lee Hubbard was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1849. After receiving his AB from Harvard in 1872, Hubbard decided to pursue a career in law--obtaining his LL.B from Boston University in 1875. With a few years of legal business completed, Hubbard changed course and attended the University of Germany to earn his Ph.D. in 1886 with a newfound focus on mineralogy. It was his work in this specialization that eventually led to him joining the Michigan Geological Survey and serving as an instructor at the Michigan School of Mines in 1890. From this opportunity, Hubbard became the Assistant State Geologist of Michigan from 1891 to 1893, and the State Geologist from 1893 until his resignation in 1899.
In 1910, Lucious L. Hubbard had been appointed to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, and elected in the following year. This is a position that Hubbard would continously be elected to serve until the year of his death, 1933. During this time, Hubbard's noted proclivity for collection grew, as he focused on various editions of Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. From these collections, Hubbard developed scholastic analyses of these titles, resulting in several published monographs. These monographs are the subject of most of the correspondence contained within the Lucius L. Hubbard Papers.
Note content adapted from collection materials and Alfred C. Lane's "Memorial of Lucious Lee Hubbard"
Lane, A.C. (1933). "Memorial of Lucius Lee Hubbard", accessed May 2025. http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM19/AM19_118.pdf
Each of the folders in this collection had been received with their respective correspondence in a chronological order, as such this had been maintained throughout processing. The order of the folders had not followed this pattern, rather they had followed this order: 1922-1923, 1921, 1918-1919, and ending with 1920. However, in the course of processing, this has been changed to follow a chronological order.
Originally these papers were stored in manila folders within hanging file folders; they have since been re-housed to new manila folders and placed in a manuscript box. Similarly, some of the folders have been dividied into separate folders to avoid any one folder becoming overfull (specfically, 1920 and 1921). The years of 1918-1919 and 1922-1923 were separated to provide each year with their own folder as well.
During the re-housing of these papers, all of the newspaper clippings (which had been glued to paper backing) were scanned and copied with the originals being removed. It is unclear if any other processing actions were taken on this collection prior to 2025.
Processed by John Bergstrom, May 2025.
